Wipes dispensers are now in widespread use to provide individual wipes for various applications. Wipes dispensers typically include a container holding a plurality of wipes to be dispensed through an aperture in the container. The containers may be rigid plastic containers or flexible containers, for example, those made out of foil materials. The plurality of wipes may be provided on a roll, with individual wipes being defined between perforations in the roll, much like a roll of paper towels. The plurality of wipes might also be provided as individual wipes interleaved together, much like a common box of tissues. The perforated roll and interleaved structures are advantageous in that pulling a lead wipe through a dispensing aperture in the container will cause another wipe to follow such that, once the lead wipe is removed and separated from the following wipe, the following wipe remains accessible at the exterior of the container to thereafter be removed when desired. This is all very well known.
In order for the lead wipe to be separated from the following wipe, it is important that the following wipe be subjected to some type of resistance so that the lead wipe can be ripped off of the remainder at its perforations (in the case of a perforated roll of wipes) or disengage from being interleaved with the following wipe (in the case of an interleaved stack of wipes). Thus, a large number of different dispensing orifices exist in the prior art to provide resistance to the removal of wipes from a container. In some prior art embodiments, star-shaped or other specially-shaped apertures are provided so that, when a leading wipe is pulled through the aperture, particularly on an angle off of vertical, the special shape of the aperture serves to provide resistance to the following wipe, with the resistance intended to be sufficient for causing the separation of the lead wipe from the following wipe. In other embodiments, the aperture is provided as a slit in an elastomeric element, with the slit providing resistance to the pulling of the wipes out of the container. Notably, in accordance with the present invention, any type of grip orifice currently employed or hereinafter developed will be suitable for practicing the present invention.
These grip orifices of the prior art are provided to (a) separate individual wipes from a perforated web or interleaved stack of wipes, and (b) hold the lead wipe in such a manner that it is easily accessed for dispensing, when desired. That is, the grip orifice not only serves to separate a lead wipe from a following wipe but also to prevent the lead wipe from falling back into the container, where the user would then have to take steps to access the interior of the container in order to access the wipe. However, it is well known that the dispensing orifices of the prior art often times fail to separate a lead wipe from a following wipe, allowing what is herein termed a “roping” of the plurality of wipes. Roping occurs when separation is not achieved and multiple wipes are pulled from the container as a continuous string or rope. This leads to waste and is simply not acceptable to the end user. When the dispensing orifice does successfully separate a lead wipe from a following wipe it serves what is termed herein an “anti-roping” function.
It is also well known that the dispensing orifices of the prior art often times cause a lead wipe to be separated from a following wipe too early, before the lead end of the following wipe has passed out of the interior of the container and through the dispensing orifice, allowing the following wipe to fall back into the interior of the container. When this occurs, the following wipe remains inside the container, which must then be opened to access the wipes. The dispensing orifice thereby fails to serve what is termed herein as an “anti-fallback” function.
Thus, those familiar with the prior art will readily appreciate that the grip orifices do not always serve the anti-fallback and anti-roping functions. Indeed, it is quite common for the average user to pull more than one wipe from the interior of the container because the grip orifice has failed to separate a line of perforation or even an interleaved connection. It is also common for the grip orifice to disconnect the wipes in such a way that the following wipe remains under the grip orifice and is not exposed at the exterior of the container, thus requiring the user to access the interior of the container to access the wipe. Quite simply, the grip orifices of the prior art fail to adequately perform both the anti-roping and anti-fallback features for which they are intended. The present invention seeks to provide a wipes dispenser having structures sufficient to provide both anti-roping and anti-fallback functions.